Notizie Dalle Viti (News from the Vines – in Italian)
Wine Maker: Maria Peterson
In the vineyards, we are currently working on maintaining the growth of the vines. As with most plant life in the South, our vines are growing rapidly this time of year. Instead of using chemicals to hold off disease and reduce frequent growth, we are hand pruning our vines in order to reduce the canopy and increase the air flow throughout. The grapes are coming in full and healthy. Many lady bugs have been spotted, which is a good sign! They keep aphids (small, plant-eating insects) away from the vineyards. Larger and fuller crops, compared to previous years, are fully expected.
On Friday, June 11th and Saturday, June 12th, we bottled our Montaluce 2009 whites and reserve reds for release later this year. The whites include the Montaluce Chardonnay, Montaluce Viognier, Montaluce Risata (a rose), and two new appearances to our list-Montaluce Dulce (a semi-sweet, for you Southerners with a sweet tooth) and Montaluce Primoro (a blend.) We are very excited about our red reserve that is new to our list-the Montaluce Centurio (a blend, mostly Merlot.) Now that bottling is over for now, our crew is slowly but surely going through spring cleaning preparing for our next harvest.
Garden: Caroline Allen, Jack, Megan
We’ve got some hard workers out in our gardens right now! They’re productivity is truly paying off. We have planted and are growing tomatoes, beans, peas, lettuce, cabbage, melons (watermelon, cantaloupe, eel river musk melon), corn, pumpkins, squash, okra, carrots, sunflowers, nasturtiums, zinnias, and cucumbers—just to name a few! Everything we grow is completely organic, and some of it is even being used in our kitchen at Le Vigne Restaurant. Check out our (dish with something form the garden in it??)!
We are also looking into putting together some packages for day classes to be taught out in the gardens—painting, drawing, film—also looking into some possibilities for performances, Shakespeare in the park types of productions. Keep your ears and eyes open for these awesome opportunities in the near future! Also, keep an eye out for sunflowers galore in late July!
–Emailed back for more info. Waiting to hear back. Called & left message, also.
Sommelier: Bill Gallagher
From the Bar
Here’s a cool pick for a hot summer from the land of a thousand grape varieties recommended by Bill Gallagher, our house sommelier:
2008 Abbazia di Novacella Kerner, Alto Adige, Italy
A lavish bouquet of peaches, honeysuckles, orange blossoms and wild herbs emanates from this richly textured, sophisticated Kerner from Northern Italy. Intensely deep, with pure stone fruit expression and racy acidity. A top-notch example of this varietal. The white Kerner grape is the cross of the red grape Trolinger and the noble white variety Riesling. Try it with grilled trout.
We are open every Tuesday—Saturday for lunch & Sunday for brunch from 11:00—3:00. We are open for dinner every Friday—Sunday from 5:30—9:00 (with the exception of closing for private events.) Check us out on Open Table for availability and reservations. Every Friday night that we have dinner service, we also show a movie at 8:45. Please check our website for our coming movie line-ups.
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